Dietary Fat Value
The fats you eat are actually complex structures made up of fatty acids and a chemical framework with carbon, oxygen and hydrogen atoms attached. Fat occurs in foods ranging from animal sources to vegetable origins. Some types of fat in your diet worsen your bad cholesterol and raise plaque-forming triglycerides.
But there are equally important reasons your body needs some components of fats, which are critical to your good health. The body cannot produce some essential fatty acids that are necessary for your immune system, ability to stop and clot bleeding, and even to keep blood pressure down. These same fats seem to improve cholesterol as well.
The Mediterranean Diet
The Mediterranean Diet, a style of eating exemplified in traditional cuisine from southern Italy and Greece, may promote lower LDL (bad) cholesterol and higher HDL (good) cholesterol. This same diet helps lower blood pressure, too. The Mediterranean Diet, which features a substantial amount of unsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, even improves cholesterol more than a low-fat diet does. So the answer is not to avoid fats entirely. It can be painless and delicious to make the changes needed.
Types of Healthy Fats
Scientists are divided over exactly how some fats and fatty acids help improve cholesterol. It may be the difference in the way these fats are absorbed or it may be indirectly through their effect on the body's insulin or other chemistry.
Here are some of the best choices. Total fat intake should not exceed 25 percent to 30 percent of your total daily caloric intake.
Monounsaturated fats lower LDL (bad) cholesterol while raising HDL (good) cholesterol. Sources of monounsaturated fats include olive oil, canola oil, seeds, avocados and nuts. Many forms of unsaturated fats oxidize, or darken, in the sunlight which is why they are sold in protected containers and must be stored out of sunlight.
Polyunsaturated fats lower LDL but do not have a benefit of lifting HDL. Yet, these types of fats are a great source of essential omega-3-fatty acids. For your best health, your body needs omega fatty acids.
Polyunsaturated oils can be less stable than monounsaturated, which is why these fat oils sometimes become rancid, so check smell and taste for freshness. Cold water fish, nuts (almonds and walnuts are best), grains and some dark-green leafy vegetables have this type of fat as do the many oils made from produce such as corn, cotton seed, soy, sunflower, flax seed and safflower.
